Defence of Massachusetts. Speech of Hon. Anson Burlingame, in the United States House of Representatives, June 21, 1856

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SPEECH

HON. ANSON BURLINGAME,

OF MASSACHUSETTS,

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

JUNE 2 1, 185 6

CAMBRIDGE:

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION.
1856.

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C A M B R I D G K :
ALLEN AND KAHNHAM, STKIMCOTYPEKS AND IMUNTEHS.

PKEFATOUY NOTE.

Tins edition of Mr. Burlingame's speech is printed at the sujigestion
of some of his constituents who have heretofore been liis political oppo-
nents, but who believe that on this occasion he said the right word, in the
right way, and at the riglit time.

Considering tiie circumstances under which it was delivered, the speech
has been regarded by persons of various political parties, and from dilFei^
ent sections of the country as equally remarkable for the bolchiess of its
tone and for its freedom from extravagant and ortensive e))ithets.

Tiie writer of this brief note is an old resident of IMr. Burlingame's
district, but has uniformly voted against him, whenever he has been a can-
didate for any political office. An old-fashioned Conservative, a " Web-
ster Whig," the paramount principles of his political creed have been, the
preservation of the Constitution and thk Union. To this end con-
cessions and compromises were approved, and all who opposed them were
censured. But since it appears that all concessions must be in favor of
slavery, and all compromises that stootl in the way of its extension are
broken when the conditions favoring that interest are fulfilled : and, more-
over, when a determined and persistent effort is making to nationalize this
sectional institution, and threats are thrown out that the Union will be
dissolved if the slave power is checked in its arrogant assumjjtions, con-
sistency to long cherished principles requires that the true Conservative
utter and defend the old do(trine of our illustrious statesman, — Linr.KTY
AND Union, now and forever, onk and inseparable !

It is gratifying to see so many patriots from all parties now unitins to
maintain these principles. The recent outrages upon liberty, in Kansas
and at Washington, have led thousands to see that there is but one great
issue now pending in the politics of the country. The Democratic party
has done justice to the President who has been false to these principles.
The people will do justice to the party that follows his course. To the
noble band whose rallying cry is " Liberty and Union," this speech will,
it is believed, be welcome.

Cambridge, July 4, 1856.

SPEECH

OF

HON. ANSON BURLINGAME,

OF MASSACHUSETTS,

DELIVERED IN THE U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JUNE 21, 1856.

Mr. Chairman, —

The House will bear witness that I have not
pressed myself upon its deliberations. I never be-
fore asked its indulgence. I have assailed no man,
nor have I sought to bring reproach upon any man's
State. But while such has been my course, as well
as the course of my colleagues from Massachusetts,
upon this floor, certain members have seen fit to assail
the State which we represent, not only with words,
but with blows.

In remembrance of these things, and seizing the
first opportunity which has presented itself for a long
time, I stand here to-day to say a word for old Massa-

1 =5= (8)

6 SPEECH OF HON. .\NSON BURLINGAME.

chusetts — not that she needs it; no, sir; for in all
that constitutes true greatness — in all that gives ahid-
ing strength — in great qualities of head and heart —
in moral power — in material prosperity — in intel-
lectual resources and physical ability — by the gen-
eral judgment of mankind, according to her popula-
tion, she is the first State. There does not live the
man anywhere, who knows any thing, to whom praise
of Massachusetts would not be needless. She is as far
beyond that as she is beyond censure. Members here
may sneer at her — they may praise her past at the
expense of her present; but I say, with a full con-
viction of its truth, that Massachusetts, in her present
performances, is even greater than in her past recol-
lections. And when I have said this, what more can
I say?

Sir, although I am here as her youngest and hum-
blest member, yet, as her Representative, I feel that I
am the peer of any man upon this floor. Occupying
that high stand-point, with modesty, but witli firm-
ness, I cast down her glove to the whole band of her
assailants.

She has been assailed in the House and out of the
House, at the other end of the Capitol, and at the
other end of the Avenue. There have been brought
against her general charges and specific charges. I
am sorry to find at the head of the list of her assail-
ants tlie President of the United States, who not only

SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAME. 7

assails Massachusetts, but the whole North. lie de-
fends one section of the Union at the expense of the
other. He declares that one section has ever been
mindful o[ its constitutional obligations, and that the
other has not. He declares that if one section of our
country were a foreign country, the other would have
just cause of war against it. And to sustain these
remarkable declarations, he goes into an elaborate
perversion of history, such as that A^irginia ceded her
lands against the interests of the South, for the bene-
fit of the North ; when the truth is, she ceded her
lands, as New York and other States did, for the bene-
fit of the whole country. She gave her lands to
Freedom, because she thought Freedom was better
than Slavery — because it was the policy of the times,
and events have vindicated that policy.

It is a perversion of history when he says that the
territory of the country has been acquired more for
the benefit of the North than for the South ; he says
that substantially. Sir, out of the territory thus ac-
quired, five slave States, with a pledge for four more,
and two free States, have come into the Union ; and
one of these, as we all know, fought its way through
a compromise degrading to the North.

The North does not object to the acquisition of
territory when it is desired, but she desires that it
shall be free. If such a complexion had been given
to it, how different would have been the fortunes of

8 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAIVIE.

the Republic to-day! This may be ascertained by
comparing the progress of Ohio with that of any slave
State in the Mississippi Valley. It will appear more
clearly by comparing the free with the slave regions.
I have not time to do more than to present a general
picture.

Freedom and Slavery started together in the great
race on this continent. In the very year the Pilgrim
Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock, slaves landed in
Virginia. Freedom has gone on, trampling down
barbarism, and planting States — building the symbols
of its faith by every lake and every river, mitil now
the sons of the Pilgrims stand by the shores of the
Pacific. Slavery has also made its way toward the
setting sun. It has reached the Rio Grande on the
south ; and the groans of its victims, and the clank of
its chains, may be heard as it slowly ascends the
■w^estern tributaries of the Mississippi River. Freedom
has left the land bespangled with free schools, and
filled the whole heavens with the shining towers of
religion and civilization. Slavery has left desolation,
ignorance, and death in its path. When we look at
these things ; when we see what the country would
have been had Freedom been given to the Territories;
when we think what it would have been but for this
blight in the bosom of the country ; that the whole
South — that fair land God has blessed so much
— would have been covered with cities, and villages,

SPEECH OF IIOX. .LNSON BURLLXGAME. 9

and railroads, and that in the whole country, in the
place of twenty-five millions of people, thirty-five
millions would have hailed the rising morn exultr
ing in republican liberty — when we think of these
things, how must every honest man — how must
every man with Ijrains in his head, or heart in
his bosom, regret that the policy of old Virginia, in
her better days, did not become the animating policy
of this expanding Republic !

It is a perversion of history, I say, when the Presi-
dent intimates that the adoption of the Constitution
abrogated the Ordinance of 1787. It was recognized
by the first Congress which assembled under the Con-
stitution ; and it has been sanctioned by nearly every
President from "Washington down. It is a perversion
of history when the President intimates that the Mis-
souri Compromise was made against the interests of
the South, and for the benefit of the North. The
truth — the unmistakable truth is, that it was forced
by the South on the North. It received the almost
united vote of the South. It was claimed as a victory
of the South. The men who voted for it were sus-
tained in the South ; and those who voted for it in
the North passed into oblivion; and though some of
them are physically alive to-day, they are as politi-
cally dead as are the President and his immediate
advisers. Not only has the President perverted liis-
torv, but he has turned sectionalist. He has become

10 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLING AME.

the champion of sectionalism. He makes the extra-
ordinary declaration, that if a State is refused ad-
mission into the Union because her constitution
embraced Slavery as an institution, then one section
of the country would of necessity be compelled to
dissolve its connection with the people of the other
section ! What does he mean ? Does he mean to
say that there are traitors in the South? Does he
mean to say, if they were voted down, that then they
ought not to submit ? If he does, and if they mean
to- back him in the declaration, then T say the quicker
we try the strength of this great Government the
bette-r. Not only has he said that, but members have
said on this floor, again and again, that if the Fugitive
Slave Law — which has nothing sacred about it —
which I deem unconstitutional — which South Caro-
lina deems unconstitutional — if that law be repealed,
that this Union will then cease to exist.

Mr. Keitt. — I wish to know from the gentleman
from Massachusetts, by what authority he says South
Carolina holds the Fugitive Slave Law to be unconsti-
tutional ?

Mr. Burlingame. — By the authority of the Charles-
ton Mercury.

Taking that paper from his pocket, Mr. B. read the
following : —

" Of the action of Massachusetts in the abrogation
of the Fugitive Slave Law, we have no complaint to

SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAME. 11

make. It was from the first a miserable illiifsion ;
and worse, in fiict, for it ivas an infmigancnt upon one of
the mod cheris/ied j)riiicijjles of the Condilidion, which pro-
vides that fugitives from labor, * upon demand, shall
be delivered up,' but gives no power to Congress to
act in this affair. The tenth amendment to the Con-
stitution provides that ' the powers not delegated to
the United States are reserved to the States or to the
people.' The clause above confers no power, but is
the naked declaration of a right ; and the power, not
being conferred, results to the States, as one of the
incidents of sovereignty too dear to be trusted to the
<i;eneral o-overnment.

" Our southern members strove for the passage of
the law, and strove honestly ; but it shows tlie evils
of our unfortunate condition, that, in the urgency of
our contest with an aggressive adversary, we lose
the landmarks of principle. To obtain an illusive
triumph, we pressed the Government to assume a
power not conferred by the instrument of its crea-
tion, and to establish a precedent by which, in all after
time, it will be authorized to assume whatever right
may have no constitutional right of enforcement;
and, wearied with so many efforts to confine the Gov-
ernment to its limits of legitimate powers, we are
pleased to have assistthice from another quarter ; and
if the question shall be determined in her favor, we
will sincerely rejoice in such a vindication of the
Constitution."

12 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAME.

That is my authority, but I do not wish to be
interrupted ; I have not time. I say that it is not for
the President and members on this floor to determine
the Hfe of this Union ; this Union rests in the hearts
of the American people, and cannot be eradicated
thence. Whenever any person shall lift his hand to
smite down this Union, the people will subjugate him
to Liberty and the Constitution. I do not wish to dwell
on the President and what he has said. Notwithstand-
ing all this perversion of history — notwithstanding
his violated pledges — and notwithstanding his warlike
exploits at Greytown and Lawrence — his servility has
been repaid with scorn. I am glad of it. The South
was right. When a man is false to the convictions of
his own heart and to Freedom, he cannot be trusted
with the delicate interests of Slavery. I cannot ex-
press the delight I feel in the poetic justice that has
been done ; but, at the same time, I am not unmindful
of the deep ingratitude that first lured him to ruin, and
then deserted and left him alone to die. [Applause.]
If I were not too much of a Native American I would
quote and apply to him the old Latin words, " De
mortiiis nil nisi bommi" — speak nothing but good of
the dead. I can almost forgive him, considering his
condition, the blistering words he let fall upon us
the other night, when he went through the ordeal
of ratifying the nomination of James Buchanan.
He said that we had received nothing at the hands

SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLING AME. i^

of the Government save its protection and its politi-
cal blessings. "We have not certainly received any
offices; and as for its protection and political bless-
ings, let the silence above the graves of those who
sleep in their bloody shrouds in Kansas answer.

There have been general and specific charges made
against Massachusetts. The general charge, when-
expressed in polite language, is, that she has not l)een
faithful to her constitutional obligations. I deny it.
I call for proof I ask when ? where ? how ? I say,
on the contrary, that from the time when this Govern-
ment came from the brains of her statesmen, and the
unconquerable arms of her warriors, she has been
loyal to it. In peace, she has added to it renown ; and
in war, her sons have crowded the way to death as to-
a festival. She has quenched the fires of rebellion on
her own soil without Federal aid. And when the ban-
ners of nullification flew in the southern sky, speaking
through the lips of Webster, in Faneuil Hall, she
stood by Jackson and the Union. No man speakiug^
in her name — no man wearing her ermine, or clotiied
with her authority — ever did any thing, or said any
thhig, or decided any thing, not in accordance with her
constitutional obligations. Yet, sir, the hand of the
Federal Government has been laid heavily upon her.

Tliat malignant spirit which has usurped this Gov-
eniment through the negligence of the people, too-
long has pursued her with rancor and bitterness.

9

14 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLING AJIE.

Before its invidious legislation, she has seen her
commerce perish, and ruin, like a devastating fire,
sweep through her fields of industry; but, amid all
these things, Massacliusetts has always lifted up
her voice with unmurmuring devotion to the Union.
She has heard the Federal drum in her streets;
she has protected the person of that most odious
man — odious both at the North and the South —
the slave hunter. She has protected him when her
soil throbbed with indignation from the sea to the
New York line. Sir, the temples of justice there
have been clothed in chains. The Federal courts in
other States have been closed against her, and her
citizens have been imprisoned and she has had no
redress.

Yet, notwithstanding all these things, Massachu-
setts has always been faithful and loyal to the Con-
stitution. You may ask why, if she has been so
wronged, so insulted, has she been so true and faithful
to the Union ? Sir, because she knew, in her clear
head, that these outrages came not from the generous
hearts of the American people. She knew that when
Justice should finally assume the reins of Govern-
ment, all would be well. She knew that, w^hen the
Government ceased to foster the interests of Slavery
alone, her interests would be regarded and the whole
country be blessed. It was this high constitutional
hope that has always swayed the head and heart of

SPEECU OF HON. ANSON BURLLNG.LME. 15

Massachusetts, and which has made her look out of
the gloom of the present, and anticijiate a glorious
future. So much in relation to the general charge
aiirainst Massachusetts.

There are specific charges upon which I shall dwell
for a moment. One is that she has organized an
" Emigrant Aid Societ}^" Did you not tell Massachu-
setts that the people of Kansas were to be left perfect-
ly free to mould her institutions as they thought best?
She knew, and she told you, that your doctrine of
squatter sovereignty was a delusion and a snare. She
opposed it as long as she could here ; and when she
could do it no longer, she accepted the battle upon
your pledge of fair play. She determined to make
Kansas a free State. In this high motive the Emi-
grant Aid Soci,ety had its origin. Its objects are two-
fold — freedom for Kansas, and pecuniary reward.
And it is so organized that pecuniary benefit cannot
How to stockholders except tlirough the prosper-
ity of tliose whom it aids. The idea of the society
is this : to take capital and place it in advance of
civilization ; to take the elements of civilization, the
saw-mill, the church, the school-house, and plant them
in the wilderness, as an inducement to the emigrant.
It is a peaceful society ; it has never armed one
man ; it has never paid one man's passage to Kansas.
It never asked — though I think it should have asked
— the political sentiments of any man whom it has

16 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAJVIE.

assisted to emigrate to Kansas. It has invested one
hundred thousand dollars, and it has conducted from
Massachusetts to Kansas from twelve to fifteen hun-
dred of the flower of her people. Such is the Emi-
grant Aid Society, such is its origin, and such its ac-
tion. It is this society, so just and legal in its origin
and its action, that has been made the pretext for
the most bitter assaults upon Massachusetts. Sir, it
is Christianity organized.

How have these legal and these proper measures
been met by those who propose to make Kansas a slave
State ? The people of Massachusetts would not com-
plain, if the people who differ from them should go
there to seek a peaceful solution of the conflicting ques-
tions. But how have they been met ? By fraud and
violence, by sackings, and burnings, and murders.
Laws have been forced upon them, such as you have
^heard read to-day by the gentleman from Indiana [Mr.
Colfax], so atrocious that no man has risen here to de-
fend one single one of them. Men have been j^laced
over them Avhom they never elected ; and this day, as
has been stated by the gentleman from Indiana, civil
"war rages from one end of Kansas to the other. Men
have been compelled to leave their peaceful pursuits,
4ind starvation and death stare them in the face, and yet
the Government stands idle — no, not idle ; it gives its
anighty arm to the side of the men who are trampling
down law and order there. The United States troops

SPEECH UF HON. ANSON l!Ll!LLNXiAME. 17

have not been permitted to protect the Free State
men. When they have desired to do so, they have
been withdrawn. I cannot enter into a detail of all
thj lacts. It is a fact that war rages there to-day.
Men kill each other at si«»:ht. All these thin(ji:s are
known, and nobody can deny them. All the westr
ern winds are burdened with the news oi' them,
and they are substantiated equally by both sides.

lias the Government no powder to make peace in
Kansas, and to protect citizens there under the or-
ganic law of the Territory ? I ask, in the name of old
Massachusetts, if our honest citizens who went to
Kansas to build up homes for themselves, and to
secure the blessings of civilization, are not entitled to
protection ? She throws the responsibility upon this
Administration, and holds it accountable ; and so will
the people at the polls next November.

Another charge is, that Massachusetts has passed
a personal liberty ])ill. Well, sir, I say that Massa-
chusetts, for her local legislation, is not responsible to
this House or to any member of it. I say, sir,
if her laws were as bad as those .atrocious laws of
Kansas, 30U can do nothing with her. I say, if her
statute-books, instead of being filled with generous
legislation — legislation which ought to be interest-
ing t(j her assailants, because it is in favor ol' the
idiotic and the blind — [laughter] — were iilled, like

tliosL' of the State of Alabama, with laws covering:

<■) ■■]■■

18 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAAIE.

the State with whippiug-posts, keeping half of her
people in absolute slavery, and nearly all the other
half in subjection to twenty-nine thousand slave-
holders; if the slaveholders themselves were not per-
mitted to trade with or teach their slaves as they
•choose ; if ignorance were increasing faster than the
population — I say, even then, you could not do
any thing here with the local laws of Massachusetts.
I say, the presumption is, that the law, having been
passed by a sovereign State, is constitutional. If it
is not constitutional, then, sir, when the proj)er trijju-
nal shall have decided that question, what is there,
I ask, in the history of Massachusetts, which will lead
us to believe that she will not abide by that result ?
I say, there is nothing in the history of the State
of Mississippi, or of South Carolina, early or recent,
which makes Massachusetts desirous of emulating
their example. I, sir, agree with the South Carolina
■authority I have quoted here, in regard to the legisla-
tion of Massachusetts.

Sir, my time is passing away, and I must hasten on.
The State of Massachusetts is the guardian of the
rights of her citizens, and of the inhabitants within
her border lines. If her citizens go beyond the line,
into distant lands or upon the ocean, then they look
to the Federal arm for protection. But old Massachu-
«etts is the State which is to secure to her citizens the
inestimable blessing of trial by jury and the writ of

SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLING AME. 19

habeas corpus. All these things must come from her,
and not from the Federal Government. I believe, with
her great statesmen and with her people, that the Fugi-
tive Slave Law is unconstitutional. Mr. Webster, as an
original question, thought it was not constitutional ; Mr.
Eantoul, a brilliant statesman of Massachusetts, said
the same thing ; they both thought that the clause of
the Constitution was addressed to the States. Mr.
Webster bowed to the decision of the Supreme Court,
in the Prigg case ; Mr. Rantoul did not. Massachu-
setts believes it to be unconstitutional ; but whether it
be constitutional or not, she means, so long as the
Federal Government undertakes to execute that law,
that the Federal government shall do it with its own
instruments, vile or otherwise. She says that no one
clothed with her authority, shall do any thing to help
in it, so long as the Federal Government undertakes to
do it. But, sir, I j^ass from this.

I did intend to reply seriatim to all the attacks
which have been made upon the State, but I have not
half time enough. The gentleman from Mississippi
[Mr. Bennett], after enumerating a great many things
he desired Massachusetts to do, said, amongst other
things, that she must tear out of her statute-book
this personal liberty law. When she had done that,
and a variety of other things too numerous to men-
tion, then, he said, " the South would forgive jNIassa-
chusetts." The South forgive Massachusetts ! Sir, for-

20 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLING.VME.

giveness is an attribute of Divinit3^ The South has it
not. Sir, forgiveness is a higher quality than justice
even. The South — I mean the Slave Power — can-
not comprehend it. Sir, Massachusetts has already
forgiven the South too many debts and too many
insults. If we should do all the things the gentle-
man from Mississippi desired us to do, then the gen-
tleman from Alabama [Mr. Shorter] comes in, and
insists that Massachusetts shall do a great variety
of other things before the South probably will forgive
her. Among other things, he desired that Massa-
chusetts should blot out the fact that Gen. Hull, who
surrendered Detroit, had his home in Massachusetts.
Wh}', no, sir, she does not desire even to do that, for
then she would have to ])lot out the fact that his
gallant son had his home there — that gallant son
who fell fighting for his country in the same war, at
Lundy's Lane — that great battle where Col. Miller,
(a Massachusetts man by adoption,) when asked if he
could storm certain heights, replied, in a modest Mas-
sachusetts manner, '' I will try, sir." He stormed the
heights.

The gentleman desires, also, that we should blot out
the history of the connection of Massachusetts with
the last war. Oh, no ! She cannot do that. She
cannot so dim the lustre of the American arms. She
cainiot so wrong the Republic. Where, then, would
he your great sea-fights? "Where, then, would be

SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLING AME. 21

the glory of "Old Ironsides," whose scuppers ran red
with Massachusetts blood ? Where, then, would be
the history of the daring of those brave fishermen,
who swarmed from all her bays and all her ports,
sweeping the enemy's commerce from the most dis-
tant seas ? Ah, sir ! she cannot afford to blot out that
history. You, sir, cannot afford to let her do it — no,
not even the South. She sustained herself in the
last war ; she paid her own expenses, and has not yet
been paid entirely from the Treasury of the nation.
The enemy hovered on her coast with his ships as
numerous almost as the stars. He looked on that
warlike land, and the memory of the olden time came
back upon him. He remembered how, nearly forty
^•ears before, he had trodden on that soil ; he remem-
bered how vauntingly he invaded it, and how speedily
he left it. He turned his glasses towards it, and be-
held people rushing from the mountains to the sea
to defend it ; and he dared not attack it. Its capital
stood in the salt sea spray, yet he could not take it.
He sailed south where there was another capital, not
far from where we now stand, forty miles from the
sea. A few staggering, worn-out sailors and soldiers
came here. They took it. How it was defended, let
the heroes of Bladensburg answer ! [Laughter.]

Sir, the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Kkitt]
made a speech, and if I may be allowed to coin a
word, I will say it had more caniankerobilt/ in it than

22 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAME.

any speech I ever heard on this floor. [Renewed
laughter.] It was certainly very eloquent in some
portions — very eloquent indeed, for the gentleman
has indisputably an eloquent utterance, and an elo-
quent temperament. I do not wish to criticize it
much, but it opens in the most extraordinary manner
with a " weird torchlight," and then he introduces a
dead man, and then he galvanizes him, and puts him
in that chair, and then he makes him " point his cold
finger " around this Hall. Why, it almost frightens me
to allude to it. And then he turns it into a theatre.
And then he changes or transmogrifies the gentleman
from Indiana [Mr. Colfax], who has just spoken, into
a snake, and makes him "wriggle up to the foot-
lights ; " and then he gives the snake hands, and then
"mailed hands," and with one of them he throws off
Cuba, and with the other clutches all the Canadas.
Then he has men with "glozing mouths," and they
are "singing psalms through their noses," and are
moving down upon the South "like an army with
banners." Frightful, is it not ? He talks about rot-
ting on dead seas. He calls our party at one time
a " toad," and then he calls it a. " lizard," " and more,
which e'en to mention would be unlawful." Sir, his
rhetoric seems to have the St. Vitus's dance. [Laugh-
ter.] He mingles metaphors in such a manner as
would delight the most extravagant Milesian.

But I pass from his logic and his rhetoric, and also

SPEECH OF HON. .VNSON BURLINGAME. 23

over some historical mistakes, much of the same na-
ture as those made by the President, which I have
ah'cady pointed out, and come to some of his sen-
tences, in -which terrific questions and answers ex-
plode. He answers, hotly and taimtingly, that the
South wants none of our vagaljond philanthropy.
Sir, when the 3'ellow pestilence lluttered its Mings
over the Southern States, and when Massachusetts
poured out her treasures to a greater extent, in pro-
portion to her population, tlian any other State, was
that vagabond philanthropy? I ask the people of
Virij-inia and Louisiana?

o

But, sir, the gentleman was most tender and most
plaintive when he described the starving operatives.
AVhy, sir, the eloquence was most overwhehning upon
some of my colleagues. I thought I saw the iron
face of our Speaker soften a little, when he listened
to the unexpected sympathy of the gentleman with
the hardships of his early life. Sir, he was an opera-
tive from boyhood to manhood — and a good one too.
Ah, sir, he did not appreciate, as he tasted the sweet
bread of honest toil, his sad condition. He did not
think, as he stood in the music of the machinery,
which came from his cunning liniid, how much better
it would have been for him had he been born a slave,
[laughter,] and put under the gentleman from South
Carolina — a kind master, as 1 have no doubt he is
— where he would have been well fed and clothed,

24 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAME.

and would have known none of the trials which
doubtless met him on every hand. How happy he
would have been if, instead of being a Massachusetts
operative, he had been a slave in South Carolina,
fattening, singing, and dancing upon the banks of
some SoLithern river. [Great laughter.]

Sir, if the gentleman will go to my district, and
look upon those operatives and mechanics ; if he will
look upon some of those beautiful models which come
from their brains and hands, and which from time to
time leap upon the waters of the Atlantic, outflying
all other clippers, bringing home wealth and victory
with all the winds of heaven, he might have reason to
change his views. Let him go there, and, even after
all he said, he may speak to those men, and convince
them, if he can, of their starving condition. I will
guaranty his personal safety. I believe the people
of Massachusetts would pour forth their heart's blood
to protect even him in the right of freedom of speech ;
and that is saying a great deal, after all that has hap-
pened. Let him go to the great county of Worcester —
that beehive of operatives and Abolitionists, as it has
been called, — and he will find the annual product of
that county greater, in proportion to the population,
than that of any other equal population in the world,
as will be found by reference to a recent speech of ex-
Governor Boutwell, of our State. The next county,
I believe, in respect to the amount of products in pro-

SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BUKLINGAME. 25

portion to population, is away up in Vermont. Sir,
let him uo and look at these men — these Abolition-
ists Avho, we arc told, meddle with everybody's busi-
ness but their own. They certainly take time enough
to attend to their own business, to accomplish these
results which I have named.

The gentleman broke out in an exceedingly explo-
sive question, something like this : I do not know
if my memory can do justice to the language of the
gentleman, but it was something like this : " Did not
the South, equally with the North, bare her forehead
to the God of Battles ? " I answer plainly, No, sir,
she did not ; she did not. Sir, Massachusetts furnished
more men in the Revolution than the whole South put
together, and more by tenfold than South Carolina.
I am not including, of course, the militia — the con-
jectured militia furnished by that State. There is no
proof that they were ever engaged in any battle. I
mean the regulars ; and I say that Massachusetts fur-
nished more than ten times as many men as South Car-
olina. I say, on the authority of a standard historian,
once a member of this House, (Mr. Sabine, in his His-
tory of the Loyalists,) that more New England men
now lie buried in the soil of South Carolina than there
were of South Carolinians, who left their State to
fight the battles of the country. I say when
General Lincoln was defending Charleston, he was
compelled to give up its defence because the people

3

26 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLING AME.

of that city would not fight. When General Greene,
that Rhode Island blacksmith, took command of the
Southern army, South Carolina had not a Federal sol-
dier in the field ; and the people of that State would
not furnish supplies to his army ; while the British ar-
my in the State were furnished with supplies almost
exclusively from the people of South Carolina. While
the American army could not be recruited, the ranks
of the British army were rapidly filled from that State.

The British post of Ninety-six was garrisoned
almost exclusively from South Carolina. Rawdon's re-
serve corps was made up almost entirely by South
Carolinians. Of the eight hundred prisoners who were
taken at the battle of King's Mountain — of which we
have heard so much — seven hundred of them were
Southern tories. The Maryland men gained the lau-
rels of the Cowpens. Kentuckians, Virginians, and
North Carolinians gained the battle of King's Moun-
tain. Few South Carolinians fought in the battles of
Eutaw, Guilford, etc. They were chiefly fought by
men out of South Carolina; and they would have
won greater fame and brighter laurels if they had
not been opposed chiefly by the citizens of the soil.
Well might the British commander boast that he had
reduced South Carolina into allegiance !

But, sir, I will not proceed further with this history,
out of regard for the fame of our common country ;
out of regard for the patriots — the Sumters, the

SPEECH OF HON. .VNSON BURLING.UIE. 27

Marions, the Eutledges, the Pinkneys, the Haynes
— truer patriots, if possible, than those of any other
State, Out of regard for these men, I will not quote
from a letter of the patriot Governor Mathews to
General Greene, in which he complains of the selfish-
ness and utter imbecility of a great portion of the
people of South Carolina.

But, Mr. Chairman, all these assaults upon the State
of Massachusetts sink into insignificance compared
with the one I am about to mention. On the 10th of
Mav, it was announced that Mr. Sumner would address
the Senate upon the Kansas question. The jfloor of the
Senate, the galleries, and avenues leading thereto,
were thronged with an expectant audience ; and many
of us left our places in this House to hear the Massa-
chusetts orator. To say that we were delighted with
the speech we heard, would but faintly express the
deep emotions of our hearts, awakened by it. I need
not speak of the classic purity of its language, nor of the
nobility of its sentiments. It was heard by many ; it
has been read by millions. There has been no such
speech made in the Senate since the days when those
Titans of American eloquence — the Websters and
the Ilaynes, contended with each other for mastery.

It was severe, because it was launched against
tyranny. It was severe as Chatham was severe when
he defended the feeble colonies against the giant op-
pression of the mother country. It was made in the

28 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLING AME.

face of a hostile Senate. It continued tlirough tlie
greater portion of two days ; and jet, during that
time, the speaker was not once called to order. This
fact is canclusive as to the personal and parliamentary
decorum of the speech. He had provocation enough.
His State had been called " hypocritical." He him-
self had been called " a puppy," " a fool," " a fanatic,"
and " a dishonest man." Yet he was parliamentary
from the beginning to the end of his speech. No
man knew better than he did the proprieties of the
place, for he had always observed them. Xo man
knew better than he did parliamentary law, because
he had made it the study of his life. No man saw
more clearly than he did the flaming sword of the
Constitution turning every way guarding all the ave-
nues of the Senate. But he was not thinking of these
things ; he was not thinking then of the privileges of
the Senate, nor of the guarantees of the Constitution.
He was there to denounce tyranny and crime ; and he
did it. He was there to speak for the rights of an
empire, and he did it bravely and grandly.

So much for the occasion of the speech. A word,
and I shall be pardoned, about the speaker himself
He is my friend ; for many and many a year I have
looked to him for guidance and light, and I never
looked in vain ; he never had a personal enemy in
his life ; his character is as pure as the snow that
falls on his native hills; his heart overflows with

SPEECH OF HON. AXSOX BURLIXGAME. 29

kindness for every being having the upright form of
man ; he is a ripe scholar, a ehivah-ic gentleman, and
a warm-hearted, true friend. lie sat at the feet of
Channing and drank in the sentiments of that noljle
soul. He Ijathed in the learning and undying love
of the great jurist, Story ; and the hand of Jackson,
with its honors and its offices, sought him early in
life, but he shrank from them with instinctive mod-
esty. Sir, he is the pride of Massachusetts. His
mother Commonwealth found him adornintr the hiuh-
est walks of literature and law, and she bade him go
and grace somewhat the rough character of political
life. The people of Massachusetts — the old, and the
young, and the middle-aged — now pay their full
homage to the beauty of his public and private char-
acter. Such is Charles Sumner.

On the 22d day of May, when the Senate and the
House had clothed themselves in mourning for a
brother fallen in the battle of life in the distant State
of Missouri, the Senator from Massachusetts sat in
the silence of the Senate Chamber, engaged in the em-
ployments appertaining to his office, when a member
from this House, who had taken an oath to sustain
the Constitution, stole into the Senate, that place
which had hitherto been held sacred aijrainst vie-
lence, and smote him as Cain smote his brother.

Mr. Keitt (in his seat). — That is false.

Mr. BuRLLNGAME. — 1 wlll uot bandy epithets with

30 SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAilE.

the gentleman. I am responsible for my own lan-
guage. Doubtless lie is responsible for his.

Mr. Keitt. — I am.

Mr. BuRLiNGAME. — I shall stand by mine.

One blow was enough ; but it did not satiate the
wrath of that spirit which had pursued him through
two days. Again and again, quicker and faster fell
the leaden blows, until he was torn away from his
victim, when the Senator from Massachusetts fell in
the arms of his friends, and his blood ran down on the
Senate floor. Sir, the act was brief, and my comments
on it shall be brief also. I denounce it in the name
of the Constitution it violated. I denounce it in the
name of the sovereignty of Massachusetts, which was
stricken down by the blow. I denounce it in the
name of civilization, which it outraged. I denounce
it in the name of humanity. I denounce it in the
name of that fair play which bullies and prize-
fighters respect. What! strike a man when he is
pinioned — when he cannot respond to a blow ! Call
you that chivalry ? In Avhat code of honor did you
get your authority for that ? I do not believe that
member has a friend so dear who must not, in his
heart of hearts, condemn the act. Even the member
himself, if he has left a spark of that chivalry and
gallantry attributed to him, must loathe and scorn the
act. God knows, I do not wish to speak unkindly or
in a spirit of revenge ; but I owe it to my manhood,

SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLING AME. oi

and the noble State I in part represent, to express my
deep abhorrence of the act. But much as I repro-
bate the act, mucli more do I reprobate the conduct
of those who Avere by and saw the outrage perpe-
trated.

Sir, especially do I notice the conduct of that Sen-
ator recently from the free platform of Massachu-
setts, with the odor of her hospitality on him, who
stood there, not only silent and quiet while it was
going on, but, when it was over, approved the act.
And worse : when he had time to cool, when he
had slept on it, he went into the Senate Chamber
of the United States and shocked the sensibilities of
the w^orld by approving it. Another Senator did not
take part because he feared his motives might be
questioned, exhibiting as extraordinary a delicacy as
that individual who refused to rescue a drowning
mortal, because he had not been introduced to him.
[Laughter.] Another was not on good terms ; and
yet, if rumor be true, that Senator has declared that
himself and family are more indebted to Mr. Sumner
than to any other man ; yet, when he saw him borne
bleeding by, he turned and went on the other side.
Oh, magnanimous Slidell ! Oh, prudent Douglas !
Oh, audacious Toombs !

Sir, there are questions arising out of this, which
far transcend those of a mere personal nature. Of
those personal considerations I shall speak when

dJ SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BUKLINGAME.

the question comes properly before us, if I am per-
mitted to do so. The higher question involves
the very existence of the government itself If, sir,
freedom of speech is not to remain to us, what is all
this government worth ? If we from Massachusetts,
or any other State — Senators or members of the
House — are to be called to account by some " gal-
lant nephew" of some "gallant uncle," w^hen we
utter something which does not suit their sensitive
natures, we desire to know it.

If the conflict is to be transferred from this peace-
ful, intellectual field, to one where, it is said, " honors
are easy and responsibilities equal," then we desire to
know it. Massachusetts, if her sons and Representa-
tives are to have the rod held over them, if these
things are to continue, the time may come — though
she utters no threats — when she may be called upon
to withdraw them to her own bosom, wdiere she can
furnish to them that protection which is not vouch-
safed to them under the flag of their common coun-
try. But, while she permits us to remain, w^e shall do
our duty — our whole duty. We shall speak whatr
ever we choose to speak, when we will, where we will,
and how we will, regardless of all consequences.

Sir, the sons of Massachusetts are educated at the
knees of their mothers, in the doctrines of peace and
good-will, and, God knows, they desire to cultivate
those feelings — feelings of social kindness, and j)ublic

SPEECH OF HON. ANSON BURLINGAME. 33

kindness. The House will bear witness that we have
not violated or trespassed upon any of them ; but, sir,
if we are pushed too long and too far, there are men
from the old Commonwealth of Massachusetts who
will not shrink from a defence of freedom of speech,
and the honored State they represent, on any field
where they may be assailed.

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